Remember that time you showed me where you went to college?

Ahh, college. For me, college was located in upstate NY. Winters were full of blizzards and by the time school was finished in May, we were still wearing fleece coats to keep us warm. The only time shorts were possible was the beginning of the school year, but that quickly changed to denim and thermals.

My fiancé had a different experience. We set off on an excursion to my fiancé’s alma mater – UC San Diego.

We started off at the Hyatt at Huntington Beach where I had some training for work. The hotel is quite massive and had what we both love – high ceilings and long hallways.

– A parking lot full of Porsche Panameras –

– a lonely, but lovely Christmas tree at the Hyatt Huntington Beach –

– dinner time! –

– shishito peppers with a cheese dipping sauce! –

The hotel had more pros’ than cons’. We absolutely loved how grand the entrance was. We also enjoyed our room and our view of the ocean from our room. Our feeling towards how spacious the place happened to be was both good and bad. It was nice to be secluded in our area of the hotel, but annoying to have to walk such a distance to get to the main lobby – which we did while it rained. Most hotels just have a gift shop. This place had a gift village. A small village of stores to help you spend your money. Overall, a very nice place to stay, and we would definitely go back.

We got up early the following day to go collect our rental car from our good friends at Turo! Turo is an app that allows you to rent cars from other people. The benefit is you get to choose what you want to drive! For this trip we got a 2012 Cayenne S. Coming from Porsche, I knew what to expect, but was very excited to try out the Adaptive Cruise Control feature – which is a laser cruise control that allows you to maintain a chosen distance behind the car ahead of you. If that car slows down, your car slows down. If that car speeds up, your car maintains its speed and your desired distance. The idea is that your car will constantly try to get to your desired speed, while maintaining your desired distance behind the car ahead of you.

– our Cayenne S in all its glory –

We took an Uber to Redondo Beach from Huntington Beach and we headed down south. What a gorgeous place California happens to be. The mountains. The ocean. The valleys. The flat spots. Just amazing so much nature in one state.

– Picking up some supplies at Whole Foods –

– Vinita by the water –

– San Diego, how I love you –

As we were sitting on a pier in Seaport Village, this little guy came up to us!

Getting back to colleges. Yeah, so my college was full of snow and inclement weather. My fiancé’s college was full of this…

– the view from her cafeteria –

-us in front of …. her school library –

Visiting this school made me realize how incorrectly my parents got this whole United States thing. How did we choose NJ when there were places like this in this country?! I don’t know and don’t want to make that mistake for our children.

One of my fiancé’s college eating spots was a local wing spot, called Wings N’ Things. She claimed them to be the best wings she’s ever eaten. I said I’d be the judge of that.